SCP 51-53 (£50,704 – £53,088) | 35 hours, Monday to Friday
A challenging job, competitive terms and conditions – and a great place to work.
Join our team.
Full recruitment pack can be downloaded from our website: http://homelessnetwork.scot/recruitment
For more information about the role, the application pack or process, please contact Janice Higgins, Head of Corporate Services on 0141 420 7272 or email recruitment@homelessnetwork.scot
Released today Tuesday 29 June, findings for that period show:
Full report can be read here: https://www.gov.scot/news/homelessness-statistics-2020-21/
During a question & answer session at the Homeless Network Scotland conference in March then Housing Minister, Kevin Stewart MSP, was asked what made Scotland’s response to homelessness different. The Minister’s response was instantaneous – ‘People’.
Among the most active independent people working to ensure the right solutions are put in place has been the Change Team. Collectively, team members form All In For Change, a group comprising individuals working in the sector along with those who have their own lived experience of being homeless, drawn from across Scotland. This unique arrangement means the big issues can be viewed from multiple perspectives at the same time and in the same space. The kaleidoscope of views and opinions this process cultivates makes sure those who know the answers are helping to shape solutions. Homeless Network Scotland created this platform for people in partnership with Cyrenians and Scottish Community Development Centre.
The Change Team are experts in what homelessness looks like on the ground for those most affected by it, which is why they have a seat at the table on the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group. The combination of practical and professional experience has been valuable in helping to shape important work taking place under pressure during the pandemic. Members have also contributed to longer term decision making and policy setting in connection to the work of the Everyone Home Collective and the Prevention Review Group, which reported in the spring.
Building from the impact All In For Change has had during the past 18 months, the Scottish Government committed in the Housing to 2040 paper to create an exciting opportunity for one person with current or previous experience of homelessness to join its Homelessness Unit on secondment for up to two years. The post is called a ‘Policy Officer’ and is a full-time, paid position. Applications close this Sunday 20 June at 4pm.
The post holder will work with colleagues across the Homelessness Unit and with the Change Team to deliver commitments in the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, such as preventing homelessness from happening in the first place, improving temporary accommodation standards, supporting the shift to rapid rehousing and understanding housing affordability.
The Change Team will continue to play a major part in helping to shape homelessness policy and practice, including the Scottish Government’s updated Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan. With this in mind, the team is looking to expand and in addition to the opportunity above is recruiting for people with lived experience to take forward this important agenda as a Change Team member.
The team use clear language and an open working approach to bridge the gap between decision makers, people working in services and people making use of services as part of a joined-up drive to end homelessness in Scotland.
Change Leads with experience of homelessness are paid at Real Living Wage of £9.50 per hour for work carried out on behalf of All In For Change, around two hours per week is invited. Click here for details and to apply. The Scottish Government role is a paid, full time secondment of 37 hours per week. For further information about that post, please contact Janice Higgins at Homeless Network Scotland on JHiggins@homelessnetwork.scot and email completed applications to Janice by 4pm on Sunday 20 June 2021 – the application closing date for both roles.
The publication of the first Impact Report produced by the Everyone Home collective this week marks a year since people and organisations that are concerned about homelessness in Scotland came together to create a platform to connect, to gather evidence, set priorities and assemble the right people in response to a crisis.
Everyone Home is a unique collective of 35 organisations, including people with lived experience, concerned about the impact of the pandemic on homelessness. It is a third and academic sector group that has collaborated closely with national and local government to implement shared priorities.
In the early months of the pandemic, many aspects of Scotland’s response to homelessness increased in pace, scope and parity in response to the pressure of a public health emergency bearing down on the system.
Over the course of 2020 a commitment from the Scottish Government to listen and take on board radical solutions proved sincere and constructive, with rapid progress on actions that may have taken longer to accomplish under normal circumstances.
Maggie Brünjes, Chief executive at Homeless Network Scotland, who facilitate the collective, said:
“We needed to pool expertise in response to a crisis presenting as ‘too big’ for any single organisation to respond effectively. The speed and urgency, alongside partnership and co-operation, had a direct and immediate impact on policy and practice in Scotland.
“Our ambition is now growing as we finalise our work plan for year two. By retaining this third- and academic-sector structure we can continue to take collective responsibility for mitigating the impact of the pandemic on people going through the toughest times, providing an infrastructure for public sector colleagues, at national and local level, so we can achieve more together.”
The collective has so far published five influential pieces of work. A preliminary framework was published in June 2020 to help ensure there was forward movement in local and national efforts to tackle homelessness at a time of great uncertainty and looking ahead to post-pandemic priorities.
Four subsequent Route Maps followed between June and December. The route-maps were the Collective’s method of cutting through the range of evidence, information and opinion on some of the ‘big questions’ in the homelessness sector – and, importantly, to offer a way forward. They are:
The work plan is firmly rooted in the triple-lock measures laid out in the initial framework produced in June last year – more homes for good health, no return to rough sleeping and no evictions into homelessness. With several key achievements from year one now incorporated into policy and practice in Scotland, the collective is ambitious about what more can be achieved in partnership with national and local public sector colleagues.
Homeless Network Scotland’s latest Network Briefing is now live to view here including a very exciting full-time secondment opportunity to join the Scottish Government homelessness team, plus the first impact report from the Everyone Home collective after a full year of operation; and lots more. Please contact us to submit stories for future editions that impact the housing and homelessness sector in Scotland by emailing: hello@homelessnetwork.scot